The Final Aeon
by 7r1gg3r h499y
Summary: Many years after the destruction of the Space Colony Ark, the village of Knothole is under seige. How will the residents stop this new threat? [Temporarily Discontinued] [Sorry!]
1. Revisions

Yo. I'd like to thank Robert JF for being the first one to review and help me onmy first fan-fic. Thanks dude.

Chapter 1: Revisions.

Swift the Hedgehog stood on the top of Brisk Mountain. His three back spikes waved in the wind. His white quills were facing forwards like a mohawk, covering his right eye with small cowlicks coming out. Green stripes covered the sides of his light silver body. Long, darkened quills (the blacksmith made them as hard as steel) came out of his arm like long blades. Small, spiked bracelets were around his wrists. His eyes were emerald green resembling his parents' eyes known as…

Amy and Sonic.

"Maybe life is that bad after all." A lone tear fell from his eye. He had gone through a lot in the last few years. His heart had been smashed. Several times.

He took out a giant sword out of its case and studied it. His father had given him it as a gift for his 13th birthday. It was the weapon Sonic had used to stop metal sonic for good. It had a long, golden shaft and a jewel on the very bottom. The one sided blade was one-and-a-half meters long with a curve and a sharp point at the end. He sighed. This would be a long war.

"Is something troubling you, young one?"

The elder walked with his small cane up the mountain and stood next to Swift. He showed his fangs when he smiled. "Mornin' Knuckles."

"I bet you're thinking about your great father, aren't you." Swift nodded sadly. "Don't worry. He was a good man, and a bit of a cocky little brat." He sighed again. It was true, and it was what had caused his downfall.

Flashback

A large cannonball crashed into the side of the fortified wall. Thousands of new gun-wielding GrieveRs charged down Leaky Valley. GrieveRs were new robots with round, spiked heads and thin limbs. Assuming that this was Eggman's doing, Knothole village's best warriors charged into the fray.

Rouge the Bat now had black fur to help her in stealing her jewels, though she had refrained from her "hobby" long enough to marry Knuckles and have a child, Hunter the Echidna (Which had wings sue to the Bat-Echidna cross-breed). She had started wearing tough, black plate armor with a jet booster and a place to store extra knives.

Tails the Fox was now more obsessed with science ever since the attacks on Knothole Village had become even more devastating than before, making him focused on supplying the villagers will high-class weaponry had a large energy cannon attached to his right arm and a scope to affect his view that was fading.

Knuckles the Echidna was now one of the leading generals of the village and was the best soldier trainer around. (He always says "Train or die loser" and raises a spear) He wears an eye patch over his left eye, attached steel spikes to his knuckle spikes and shoes and used a hover bike since he was not exactly the fastest person around.

Cream the Rabbit has really matured over the years though doesn't usually fight in battles unless she really has to. Since she is now married to Tails, she usually helps him in the lab. She wore a long, red dress with her ears flopped back.

Amy the Hedgehog, on the other hand, fights against the GrieveRs whenever she can and now uses two iron hammers. She wears tight jeans and a red tank top, though during battles she wears shin guards and elbow pads.

And yes, Sonic the Hedgehog. He is now the leader of Knothole village and the main general. He was known for his brilliant military plans that were always able to drive the GrieveRs back. However, he was beginning to get a bit too confident…

"Swift and Clair, you got to get to the shelter."

"But we want to help…"

"Just GO!"

Sonic ran out of the house and used a small katana to slice through the GrieveRs in the surrounding area.

Clair, Tail's daughter after he married Cream, was a fox, but had long floppy rabbit ears. She and Swift were best friends, but they have become quite close.

Even from the shelter they could hear the cries of the soldiers of the village and the clanking of the different GrieveRs. The rain had become quite hard now, mixing with the blood of the corpses.

Suddenly, a giant claw ripped through the wall of the shelter and grabbed Clair. It flew into the air and put her in a small cage.

"Clair!" shouted Swift as he walked outside only to find..

The Metal Overlord.

A colossal monstrosity with two arms, each armed with powerful claw and a weapon of mass destruction. Fireballs rained onto the surrounding area. Thousands of Knothole soldiers died under the fire power of it.

As Swift stood frozen in that same space, Sonic rushed onto the scene and jumped onto the tentacle of the robot. He drove his katana into the skin of Metal and ran, making a sizable cut in the side of Metal. It raised its flamethrower, but the little blue hedgehog was too fast for it. Many a time did it raise some sort of weapon, only to have Sonic outrun it.

"Stay still!" Roared Metal. Not even the down pouring rain had stopped him. Sonic threw his katana into the head of the robot. As metal conducts electricity, the katana served as a lightning rod to the continuing thunderstorm. As lightning flew through its veins, a small escape pod came out of its back. A fake perhaps?

Of course, Sonic was too soaked up in his glory to do any sort of act to stop the escape pod. A rousing chorus of "Sonic!" filled the air. His best friends sighed at this sight. However, no one had noticed the metallic body of the overlord seemed to be tilting, ready to fall on the least attentive person on the road, Sonic the Hedgehog.

He wife's screams filled the air. As soon as Sonic noticed this, he turned backwards to notice the claw just before it entered his heart. Blood sprayed over the ground as the crowd fell eerily quiet. Swift, not knowing this yet only had one thought on his mind.

Where was Clair?

End Flashback

"It had been two years since then," said Swift, rubbing a tear from his eye. "And I still haven't found her. I need to go and find her, for Tail and Cream's sake."

"Yes, young one. I want to help you find her too, since it is going to a good cause, so I will give you this." Knuckles held out his right hand to show a pair of metal shoes that were hidden under his leather robe.

"These shoes…"

"All we could find of Shadow after the Space Colony Ark was destroyed."

"My father told me about these. And they have jet boosters and everything!" The elder coughed. Swift lowered his voice. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. You're worth it kid." Knuckles walked away, yawning and muttering 'I really hate this stupid cane.'

Swift stared at the shoes for a few minutes and slipped them on, fired them up and flew back home. He laughed so hard.

This was the most joy he had had in a long time.


	2. The New Village

Chapter 2: The New Village

The old village of Knothole had changed a lot over the years. They have built a dense steel wall with multiple towers with AK-47 sentinels. The streets were in a grid and organized so that the military bases were scattered on the outside for defense and the residential area is in the middle for protection. Most civilians undergo military training at around age 7. Weapon and armor shops were scattered across the grid. Knowing that the robots have no hearts, no one rebelled against the war since it would not have done anything to halt it. Other civilians have moved in from other towns that the GrieveRs had destroyed, making a combination of different species, from gator to porcupine.

This has greatly expanded the members of the freedom fighters. It now has over 500 members including Swift and Hunter. Many different weapons had been designed by Tails to be used in the warfare. Princess Sally had also been a good leader in each battle, due to her mastery of the land around Knothole.

There are now 6 regions around Knothole, each with a different elemental landscape. Fiagra, Frostu, Aeroga, Earthro, and Naturi. The sixth is Angel Island that floats above the middle of the world. Knuckles usually lives there guarding the Master and Chaos emeralds.

The raging war has damaged many people.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Swift walked down the road. He decided he was going to talk to one of his best friends, Hammer the hawk. Hammer was regularly the wise one, giving the others good advise. Next to Knuckles, he was the smartest advisor around.

"Hey can I ask you a question?" said Swift as he sat down and helped himself to a biscuit.

"Ask away." Replied Hammer as he slapped Swift's hand away from the biscuits.

"What should do?" Hammer gave him an interrogative look. "Knuckles gave me these shoes but I don't know if I'm ready. I really want to save Clair, but I think I'd just get creamed by those GrieveRs."

"You know Knuckles is better than me, you should call yourself lucky."

"Ok then, do you know where the best weapon shop is?"

"Ah…" said hammer as he pushed a button. Immediately the walls flipped and revealed multiple guns, missiles, ammo, and swords. "Help yourself."

"Wow…"

"No, those are MY biscuits!"

"But they're so good!"

"GERROFF!"

At that moment, Hunter walked in to see the hedgehog and the hawk fighting over a small chocolate biscuit. Swift and Hammer noticed it stopped fighting.

"Y'no, you always seem to get into fights."

"Shut up." Replied Swift as he took a missile launcher and stormed out the door.

"Hey wait." Said Hunter. "I heard you saying at Brisk Mountain that you were gonna go out to look for Clair, right?"

Swift was flabbergasted. "You spied on me?" Hammer chortled.

"Well, I had to go somewhere to dispose the trash." Swift raised his eye.

"What about the garbage disposal plant down your street?"

"Well whatever. I wanna come with you. I haven't been let out of this village for years."

"Rouge wouldn't let you go."

"Amy wouldn't let you go."

"Don't worry. When she hears Knuckles told me I should go, she'll let me."

"My folks don't really care. She cares about jewels and he cares about his emeralds. I don't really see them caring about anything else. I don't really see why they got married."

"Ok fine, we'll leave tomorrow at dawn."

At that remark, the two left in opposite directions.

Hammer sighed. Those two never stop fighting. But this would be perfect. He walked into the back room, turning off the light. The room had numerous computers around the walls and an emergency pod, where a figure tied up was squirming hopelessly. "Stop moving back there!" shouted Hammer.

He pressed a big button and the pod launched, destined to land in the middle of Prison Ocean. Hammer chuckled and grabbed a small phone, and dialed a number.

"Hello?" said the responding voice.

"They're coming sir."

"Good."


	3. Conspiracy

Chapter 3: Conspiracy

The landscape of Naturi lay before the duo. A desolate, green landscape with no land not covered in fertile land. Wild creatures lived here, ripping any unknown figure into millions of pieces. The morning sunrise lit up the lower parts of the jungle as the two set in.

As Hunter walked to the meeting place, Swift stared at him for a while. Few people have ever actually seen what Hunter really looks like since he always tries to stay in the shadow. He had a red body and dreadlocks, with pieces of dark brown and green fur. His purple wings with black lining were folded back so that he would be blown away. His ears and eyes are bluish-purple resembling Rouge and Knuckles. He was clutching a pendant with a Chaos Emerald on it.

Swift was curious. "How'd you get that Chaos Emerald?"

"This?" Asked Hunter. "Yesterday a person attacked the master emerald shrine and took away all the Chaos Emeralds but Knuckles was able to keep this one."

"How?"

"Don't ask. Anyway, he said that it would help me on my adventure."

" That's preety cool. Ok, various resources indicate that the GrieveR base 'N' is somewhere in here…. "

"Get low get low get low get low, to the windooooows, to the wall!" Swift realized Hunter had brought his "Kings of Crunk" CD. He ripped Hunter's player and threw it unto the ground.

"This is important! Just hurry up, please…"

"Well you don't have yell," mumbled Hunter as he followed Swift into the forest.

The ambiance of the forest was consumed in plants with the amazing sounds of combinations of any animal ever discovered and possibly others. Although it has seemed to be a peaceful place, most adventurers have been eaten by the cannibalistic crocodile tribes. But this was not on Swift's mind. He was focused on relieving his village of the mechanized threat of the GrieveRs. This, however, was on Hunter's mind as he readied his shuriken.

* * *

The flames of Fiagra were stronger then anyone had ever seen before. Molten lava flowed between the gaps in the land. Rising flames consumed any flammable substance and disintegrated it. No people have lived here in years due to the unbearable heat and danger of being burned, but some were more daring than others. Some were ready.

A strong base of cemented stone stood in the middle of Lagna Crater. Ditches and defense sentinels are scattered across the landscape. GrieveRs had their revolvers cocked and ready, hidden in the deep trenches. Elites rose their swords into the air, proclaiming their loyalty to their master. The spikes crosswise the walls shone with the dark auras of the possessor's power. Surrounding this monstrous piece of construction is a pure, solid, impenetrable diamond wall with sharp spikes.

"Is the cannon ready yet?" said the black creature.

"I've told you many times, NO!" yelled Hammer. "We've barely had time to work on it because you needed the kid distracted!"

"Hmm. Couldn't you use that nifty bracelet of yours that I gave to you?"

"I'm saving it for the fight."

"I should just slice that thing off your hand right now." As the figure said this it pulled out a knife and cut the strap of the hawk's necklace, making it drop to the floor and bursting the locket into two pieces.

"Hammer wouldn't like that." Said the hawk as they both snickered. "I'm getting tired of this. The feathers are somewhat itchy."

The hawk pressed a few buttons on his bracelet so that a holographic image appeared above it. Turning a dial, he selected a special 'wolf form' and pressed another to make the image disappear. Suddenly, his body broke apart into billions of microscopic partials that danced around the room like a gust of wind, blowing fragile fragments of snow into the air. After a few seconds, the particles came back together not as a hawk, but as a wolf. The wolf's fur was dark purple with stripes of black running down his legs and arms. A green and brown cloak surrounded most of his upper-body, extending down to his ankle. His left arm is made of metal (due to a sniping accident many years before) that held his bracelet, power and infrared light-readings bars, a small scope and claws 1.5 times as large as normal fingers. It was attached to his body by special nerve-readers that attached to the shoulder and spine. His head had long spikes of hair, starched to decrease wind resistance. His blood-red eyes struck a shock in your heart; one that made you freeze in place. One that could kill you even before he even touched you. "I like my original form much better."

"Flashy entrance, Vex. Anyway, you should hunt them before they reach Angel Mesa. That's where Blaze is. If that happens, then we're doomed. She has the power of the Sol emeralds and the fire gem, and take a GrieveR down easily."

"Couldn't I just kill that brat?"

The figure grinned. "That's why you're the leader of the elite squad. Do what you need to do."

"Yes madam." Replied Vex.

He zoomed off into the distance, not even leaving one sign he had been there except for the broken pendent on the floor. The young woman laughed. She couldn't help it.

"This will be so much fun…"

* * *

Swift and Hunter had been hiking for hours across Mild Stretch. Due to the seemingly obvious self-explanatory name, the duo traveled across this pathway next to the Nawold River. Ironically, the Mild Stretch was named after the most vicious gator tribe in the jungle in which the chief was named Mild Slaughteco. Swift and Hunter had just come out later, bruised, tired and hungry.

"Why didn't you tell me this was going to happen?" said Hunter grudgingly.

"YOU were the one suggesting we go in there!" shouted Swift, annoyed that this jerk was pushing him for his own mistakes.

"Whatever you stupid… Oh whatever. Just pass me some food."

"You said you were going to bring the food."

As they talked, the dark, foaming clouds overhead started raining uncontrollably on the soft ground. They both sighed. This wonderful adventure was already becoming a nightmare.


	4. Thoughts

Chapter 4: Thoughts

The fat man slammed his fist on his desk. Robotnic's trash can had piled up from the numerous rejected plans that he had tested and failed to draw out the complete power of his plans. This was his 50th plan to be rejected by his own calculations. In other words, he was having evil genius's block.

One of his plans was to flood the town with massive amounts of sulfuric acid. It seemed like such a good idea at the time, even though he knew that it would completely destroy the Great Forest and the fertilizer. However, this was rejected as he would not be able to build Robotopolis over the major damage that the acid would do to the ground.

Another idea was just to completely decimate the forest with some atomic weapons. He would make a chain-reaction with the atoms so that over a billion more atoms would be crushed and the explosion would be bigger than any sort of bomb ever made before. This was stopped as soon as he calculated the radius of the blast and he realized that it would destroy his secret base as well as the village.

He ripped his plaque off the wall and examined it again. It read,

_To Dr. Robotnic_

_The Winner of the Sally Acorn Awards._

_One who had helped the Villagers Prosper in the Village of Knothole._

The Sally Acorn Awards had started ever since the young princess Sally Acorn had sacrificed herself in the Battle of the Angels in which the Elite GrieveR Units and the Knothole Hunter Leaders had a massive battle. Here, most of the former Freedom Fighters surrendered themselves to the enemy just to keep the entire land of Mobius from breaking apart and being turned into a desolate wasteland. Dr. Robotnic was also aiding the resistance that very day, using his brilliant battle tactics to wipe out the raging GrieveRs. That was over ten years ago.

It had seemed that the doctor had become a peaceful, generous scientist that had used his 300 IQ to help people. Unfortunately, he spent all his money for the materials to make an unlimited power source so that not to damage the forest. The next week, the government officials evicted him from his house because he had seemingly neglected his loan, although they knew perfectly well that he spent it all to try this experiment. The doctor, outraged by this, organized a peaceful protest. This only made his predicament worse, as the military as sent in to stop the rebellion. Robotnic was sentenced to be _"Exiled for five years, for until then will he live off the natural land of the wilderness."_

Five years later, he came back to the village, making his reappearance look peaceful and forgiving. However, in the middle of the night he raged through the town, commanding his newly designed E-Elite robots in an attempt to have his own revenge against the town. He had thought that this village had become nothing better than another skewed democracy. This place had shunned him even though he had pledged his life to this country, making sure that life would be perfect. Now the good doctor wanted revenge. After being pushed back many times by a new hero, Sonic the Hedgehog, he slowly become angrier as designed more and more devious plans, each more difficult to stop than the last. Robotnic thought more, letting his mind wander to his previous inventions.

After throwing away another plan in which he would build another Egg-Viper, he knew only something that he had been working on for over a decade. Slowly he approached the metal door. _Should I resort to this? _Thought he. _Yes, it is the only way._

He pushed in a 20-digit come and the large slices of steel moved to each side, revealing a large blue robot. It had been originally intended to be a rebuilt version of Metal Sonic, but Dr. Robotnic realized he remembered his old, outdated creation, Silver Sonic.

It seemed to be nothing but a perfect structural image of Sonic, but it was clunky and slow. The Armor was hard to pierce, but it took a few seconds to raise its armor in from of its belly, the only vulnerable part of its body. This was killed off many times by the original Sonic, but now that Sonic had died, he realized it as his chance.

Dr. Robotnic combined the designs of Metal Sonic and Silver Sonic into one beast of both power and speed. He added removable pieces of pure diamond armor including spiked shoulder pads, leggings and a new breastplate. His boots were lingered with small boosters allowing easy flight capabilities. The right hand had its fingers turned into small regenerating lasers while the left had short razor-sharp claws. The eyes were grey with black pupils connected to the brain with millions of blood red microscopic eyes. The quills were put back to decrease wind-resistance. A strong katana had been strapped to its waist. The original blue body now had long silver stripes and external glowing veins that propelled energy into the lifeless body.

"Now," said the previously quiet scientist. "Rise, Ersatz."

As he said this, the formerly motionless figure rose and leapt high into the air, to fall with a mighty crash. As the energy-filled hand touched the ground, the earth around him disintegrated into dust, leaving a building-sized crater in the ground. Robotnic, almost falling into it, stumbled back and fell. The face of the creature glowed light green as the energy rushed to its head. "What is your bidding my master?" asked Ersatz who now seemed very loyal to its old creator.

Robotnic grinned. "I'm glad you asked me that…"

* * *

Swift ate the last of the old blackberries he and Hunter had found in one of the numerous bushes in the Great Forest. The adventure of theirs had not gone so great ever since they had left. The different gator tribes had done countless attempts to capture the two and roast them over a fire and the rain had taken away all the extra food they had stolen from one of the tribes in a raging river. But now he had look up into the moon, and a few words went into his mind. Luckily he still had a pencil and a small piece of paper. Swift had begun writing poetry after the last attack on Knothole to clear his mind.

_And if I could,_

_The sky would never fade from the light._

_Never would the clouds consume it_

_As the people dance in the moonlight_

_And the guns are put away_

_Never to_

Hunter, seeing this, took the paper away and ripped it into shreds. "Poetry is for winps." Muttered the Echidna.

The journey had gone like this every day. Swift had begun to give up writing since Hunter would always throw it away. He sighed, and looked over the hill. Soon they would reach the "N" base and try to find Clair the Fox, his best friend.


	5. Almost There

Sorry If I hadn't been Updating in a While. Computer Problems. Of course, there had only been 2 reviews so far, Next time I'm only If I get another review from another person ok?

Chapter 5: Almost There

The "N" base hadn't been just sitting around the entire time. Ever since the GrieveRs had gotten news from Vex that Swift and Hunter would be approaching they had been preparing day and night for their attack. Once the last few young defenders had been dealt with, the army would destroy the great forest and move in. Their models had even been updated. They knew that the previous model, since they were pure white, would get them spotted too quickly. They now had fully camouflaged-painted bodies and small gas masks on to resist the stink-bombs they used to flush out their enemies. Yes, these robots breathed. The air helped circulate the electricity flow in their bodies. They had their commander with them, a young chameleon named Deltio.

Delito was born when Team Chaotix was captured by Dr. Robotnic. Team Chaotix was a professional detective team specializing in tracking down criminals in either secretly, or by destroying a building. The team included Espio the Chameleon, Charmy the Bee, and Vector the Alligator. During a time when the group was trying to find a Chaos Emerald deep in the confines of the doctor's lair, he captured the team in a pure titanium cage when they were resting. Dr. Robotnic tortured Vector and Charmy until they gave him information on the exact coordinates of the master emerald shrine and finally had them executed. Espio escaped and was never seen again.

Years later, a Chameleon was seen wandering out of the forest. He had orange, glowing eyes that mixed with his pitch black body. Other then that, he looked exactly like Espio. Long pointing nose, curled tail, the works, except he was still a teenager. He identified himself as Delito to the first person that spotted him, which by pure chance just happened to be Vex the Wolf.

Nice job Delito.

* * *

Swift and Hunter's journey got worse and worse, Hunter thinking anything Swift did was wimpy, and Swift thinking anything Hunter did was stupid. Although the two were well fed once the two learned to like alligator meat. Apparently the gator tribes were not exactly the smartest bunch in the forest. 

"Are we there yet?" asked Hunter eight days into the journey.

"No. For the hundredth time, no!" shouted Swift in an annoyed voice.

"Ninety ninth time."

"Whatever."

"What about now?"

"Ye-No."

"Now?"

"Take the 'w' out."

"Are we there at this time?"

"N-Yes!" Swift said it so joyously that Hunter fell off the nearby cliff. He flew up next to swift and whacked him on the head.

"You scared me there. Don't do that again."

Swift ignored him and slid down the cliff via the branches on the trees. Shadow's shoes were really good for grinding on a rail, since the shoes had small curves in them to help propel the jet's flames in any specified direction. Unfortunately he forgot about his giant sword and missile launcher that sometimes got caught in the trees. Hunter just flew down carefully due to the massive amount of stray branches populating the cliffs. He ended up with many thorns in his wings and leaves in his outfit. Swift chuckled. It was rare to see Hunter in a helpless form like this.

They slipped through a few trenches in the landscape next to the fortress that were nearly covered in spikes. Little did they know that hundreds of GrieveRs were scouting the trenches next to them, and they would soon meat up at the junction.

* * *

"WHERE THE HECK IS HE?" screamed Amy as loud as she could as she plowed through the millions of pillow with pictures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Swift had longed to see his father once in his life, and never really grasped the fact that Sonic had died. His room was blue, his laptop was blue, blue, blue, blue. 

She had not seen him in over a week and had gotten really irritated and somewhat scared. Rouge walked up next to her. "He probably went with Hunter to stop the GrieveR threat. That's what Knuckles said."

"WHAT?" Amy's head nearly exploded in anger. It even looked from Rouge's point of view that her head was expanding.

"Knuckles claimed that he had a vision." Said Rouge calmly as if nothing had just happened. "He said,'Swift delivered the final blow to the creature of darkness, stopping the shadows from consuming us all. None again shall trouble this peaceful land.' It's actually pretty poetic, if I do say so myself."

"WHERE THE HECK IS THAT LUNATIC?"

"Amy, back off. This is for the good of the land. Even I say so, and Hunter is my son."

"That's just because he's your old husband. I'm gonna give him a little vision of my own." Said Amy as she picked up her new hammer. It had a black shaft and a spiked top which was good for stabbing with.

Rouge just shrugged, making her black armor shake up and down. 'Do your worst, just don't kill him."

Amy just rushed out the door.

"Knuckles is doomed."

* * *

Of course, after a few minutes of walking, Swift and Hunter even with their best attempts at trying to sneak past the spikes of the trenches without being notice, found themselves staring down the barrels of two cocked and loaded sub-machine guns, held by a new modeled GrieveR. It was able to signal other GrieveRs with his Sonar communication, saying in some sort of code that Swift and Hunter had been spotted. Slowly the two were surrounded and utterly helpless. Swift remembered his sword and reached for it slowly, as not to make the deadly robots suspicious of his plan. 

Once his hand touched the Giant single-bladed sword, he flashed it out and cut the head off the first GrieveR that crossed his path. The others, realizing they were in danger, took their guns and fired in Swift's direction. Hunter, almost as if he was expecting this, pulled out two katanas he always had strapped to his back and was able to block most of the bullets, with the exception of a few stray bullets that just grazed Swift's fur. Hunter took out a few GrieveRs' arms by throwing one of his katanas at them. Swift swung his sword in a wide arc, slicing the control chips inside their chests. He then finished the party by firing the missile launcher he got from "Hammer".

With the group of GrieveRs gone, they were ready to raid the "N" base.

Took them long enough.


	6. Infiltration

Chapter 6: Infiltration

"Did unit T-2 capture those fools?" Asked the black chameleon. His orange eyes scared the elites in the room, although they did not admit it.

"Unfortunately, they were easily dispatched by Swift and Hunter. They seem to have a specialty in swords." All of the GrieveRs in the room clutched their pistols in case Delito had another of his mad spasms. They were known around the different GrieveR units as 'deadly' and 'evil'. Amazingly, Delito took this news rather well. Not even a twitch, but a laugh.

"Good. I hope they get here, so I can deal with them myself. I need a bit of entertainment, since being here watching all the action is rather boring. However, I'd like you numbskulls," he turned around with a very _evil_ grin. "To toy and weaken them. I happen to know Swift's number one weakness. And it is our leader."

All the elites knew what he was talking about and what to do. Clouds of dust replaced each robot that was previously in the room. Delito laughed again, felling so glad that he would be able to watch the torture from the master camera room.

Swift and Hunter discovered that all the trenches led to one door. It was blood red with a crossed wood covering. A giant stone dragon was perched on the top of the doorway with the symbol of the conspiracy with the name on top. It had a giant Falchion sword with two scythes on top of a purple heart, labeled _Followers of Über._

Hunter and Swift had realized that these armies had not been controlled by Dr. Robotnic, but possibly this Über person.

There is only one remaining question. Why was this vital information posted right outside the main entrance?

Swift hurriedly dialed Tails's phone with the solar powered cell phone he always carried with him and told him what he had figured out.

"Swift? Where've you been? Amy's been worried sick about you!" was the reply he got.

He sighed. "I'm near the GrieveR 'N' ba-"

"WHAT? You're gonna get killed!"

"Knuckles sent me due to one of his visions. Besides, I've been training a lot lately and Hunter is also with me."

Luckily, Tails knew he could trust Knuckles. "Ok good, just don't get hurt. I'll alert the rest of the town, but right now I'm kinda busy."

"Why?"

"Uh…" Swift noticed that he heard someone moaning loudly in the background.

"Never mind." He said and quickly ended the chat.

* * *

Knuckles had been standing on Chaos for hours, contemplating whether sending Swift and Hunter alone was a good idea. The way he took his visions were not always correct. Once he had taken seeing a ham and cheese sandwich as the GrieveRs using their plan _Hacs_ in which they would sabotage Knothole's security system. Actually, it meant Rouge would eat a ham and cheese sandwich, which she did. He knew Swift would get far in his journey, but he just didn't know how far.

He decided to set his mind on something else. He thought about the Battle of Leaky Valley, the day Sonic died. He could have sworn he had seen something coming out of the Metal Overlord's head once it was dismantled. It could have been Dr. Robotnic, but no, he was much to fat to fit in the pod. He smirked at the thought of Dr. Robotnic trying desperately to fit in a small pod half the size of him. But if it was not him, who could it have been?

He was broken away from his train of thought by a sharp crack on the head. It was Amy, Angry and ready to kill this piece of filth that sent away her son. She landed a few more bows to his head before Knuckles spun around and held the sharp edge of his cane to her neck. "Stop that!" he shouted. "If you want to be so mad about your son than go to him! I was only doing what the vision of chaos told me to do!"

"Oh please! You could have just as easily sent some of the stronger people in this village. There was no reason to send two teenagers to some dangerous fortress."

"But you know as they say. 'For there to be a land of perfect light, the being of perfect darkness must be eliminated.'"

"So, what? We just gotta kill Dr. Robotnic for good, right?"

"Dr. Robotnic isn't behind this. Even he could not be able to create such a powerful force by himself. He wouldn't be able to use such dark power to build simple robots. It was not him."

"Then who Mr. smart man?"

"I…"

"Knuckles!" shouted Tails as he ran up the hillside. He looked as if is clothes had been thrown on him and were not ironed in ages.

"Why do you look like _that_?" asked Amy.

"Uh… more on that later. Anyways, Swift just called and informed m-"

"Did he say hi to me?" said a much exited Amy. Knuckles just sighed. He knew this was important, and that Amy would never shut up.

"Be quiet for once!" shouted Tails. The two just stared at him. It was very rare that Tails ever got this mad, so they immediately knew it was urgent. "He said that they were called the Followers of Über or something."

"Über!" Asked Knuckles, very surprised that he had heard that name again.

"What's so special about him?" asked Amy.

"I know a lot about this legend of Über the Echidna. He was a friend of my ancestors. Über was a young, white echidna swordsman that lived in Fiagra. He usually wore rings on all of the fingers on his left that had long claws attached to them to aid him in battles if he lost his strangely big katana. It was about one-and-a-quarter meters long with a spiked flat edge. He had long, uncut spiked hair that fluttered in the wind, and blood-red piercing eyes that could scare the teeth off a great-white shark. He always wore a long black fur coat that went down to his ankles and a collar that almost reached his ears. He was always known as a troublemaker around the village of Phoenixa, making pranks and getting into fights with the toughest warriors in the army. The most amazing part is that he destroyed them all with his unique fighting style and weapons.

"He was known around the world after the curious incident of the government of Fiagra. They had started a monarchy from the massive amount of unused power at their disposal, and were commanding the population unruly behavior. Über, knowing that this was going to tear the land apart, made an army of rebels and attacked the main capitol building in Ironforge. While a civil war started, he and a few friends sneaked through Angel Island to try and gain the power of the Master Emerald. Unfortunately, he slipped past the previous guardian and stumbled across the Black Temple of Chaos, where all the negative energy of the Chaos Emeralds were stored. He was attacked by a black blob and he absorbed it. Suddenly the whites of his eyes turned black and a black energy surrounded him. His mind turned to pure unimaginable evil and uncaring selfishness. He single-handedly took down the rich monarchy and replaced with an even worse dictatorship that sent all of Fiagra, friends and family, into slavery.

"The Six Priests of The Regions used all their power to take down Über and sealed him inside a sword. It was then on known as Soul Falchion and sealed in a stone catacomb in Fiagra, never to be seen again." Knuckles ended his speech by closing his eyes. By the look on his face you can see he was afraid.

Tails and Amy were shocked. "We need to inform all of Knothole of this new threat." Said Knuckles again, and headed off to his cave where he usually meditated.

Tails and Amy ran as fast as the could back to the mainland, unknowing that this threat was growing stronger with every step they took.

* * *

The dark caverns under the 'N' base were getting deeper and falling into a large maze. Hunter and Swift decided to split up and join back together at the end. Hunter, hating walking for long distances, tried flying, but something shot from afar and hit him straight in the arm. Immediately he was surrounded by multiple shadows and had his wings clipped. He was just out of reach of his knife, and helpless… again.

Swift ran down the dark hallway until he found something standing in the door way to his right. He tried approaching it, but something jumped out of nowhere and drove something into hiseft arm. Swift screamed loudly as traces of blood started appearing on his shoulder.

"There is nothing you can do…"


	7. A New Enemy

Chapter 7: A New Enemy

Hunter quickly dove out of the way of the shadows and ran down the hall franticly trying to take the clips out of his wings. He whipped out one katana and sliced both clips off, scratching the tips of each wing in the process. The shadows seemed to be going away, but one still remained. Its yellow eyes sparkling in the darkness. Hunter flung one knife backwards, but it missed. "Darn, I missed." He whispered into the air, frustrated because he knew each throw would count.

He threw a shuriken back this time because of its easier maneuverability through the air and the way it curved, making it harder to deflect with some sort of weapon. It hit the creature right in the eye, making it cry out in pain and stop in mid flight. Hunter smiled and ran sown the passageway to find Swift.

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Swift ripped the stone spike out of his shoulder and threw it at his attacker. It seemed to move at the speed of light around the room as its eyes flashed from one wall to the next. Next thing he knew, missiles were being fired everywhere in the tunnel in an attempt to make the crumbling tunnel cave in. He used his speed to zoom through the tunnel, but was not able to catch up with this creature attacking him.

It quickly sped behind Swift and tried to cut his neck with its wrist blades. Swift remembered his sword, drew it and caught its blades in the small hole near the tip. With that he twisted the sword and dug it into the wall. With the creature trapped in the wall, Swift unloaded barrel after barrel of missiles on his new enemy with the launcher attached to his back. Fiery explotions came from every which way, but had miraculously not damaged the cave.

Once he stopped, the dust cleared, it was still there unscathed.

"W-what are you?" was all the surprised Swift was able to get out.

The robot grinned through the metal faceplate."My name is Ersatz." said the blood curdling voice.

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"Security breach in sector 85T, security breach in sector 85T. This is not a drill. Repeat; this is not a drill."

The computer-generated voice rang throughout the entire fortress except for the basement, to make sure Swift and Hunter did not realize that this was not some sort of GrieveR attacking them. Hundreds of GrieveRs worked their way to the basement where the breech was taking place, hoping to stop this new target before it could memorize the shape of their base. That way it could send reinforcements that would be able to make their way to any area of the fortress.

Delito looked at the many different screens upon the master control panel for the "N" base. Surprisingly, there seemed to be an unknown target attacking Swift, and the exact same target attacking Hunter. Most would agree that there must have been something wrong with the database, but Delito knew better. He commanded a duo of GrieveRs to go toward each target and use a special weapon. It was called männlich, which is 'scanner' in our language.

What it does is scan the chosen object and it transmits all of its data - thoughts, weapons, and even what it is made of - to a programmed computer, therefore revealing any secrets, any person could be hiding.

One elite tried to reach the figure attacking Hunter, but was unfortunately had its energy core chopped through via a horribly thrown knife. The only response to this accident was a barely audible "Darn, I missed," from Hunter.

The other was luckily able to get within two meters of the figure attacking Swift without dying. He charged the männlich and scanned the shadow. It was transmitted to the main computer nanoseconds before the elite was fried with a barrage of missiles. All that was left was a smoldering crater of metal scraps.

The text and picture boxes popped up on the data screen.

_Form Name: Ersatz_

_Company: Robotnic co._

_Description: A deadly robotic creation designed to surprise and quickly kill enemies with ease. Increases intelligence with each move the opponent makes. Able to split into multiple forms that operate independently. Colored black and shaped to look vaguely like the original Sonic the Hedgehog. Covered in high-class armor that allows easy movement and almost makes the user invulnerable._

_Weapons: Small omega-laser attached to the fingertips of each hand, long claws attached to each wrist, a small scorpion missile launcher attached to each shoulder, and a self-destructible core._

An idea flashed in Delito's head almost instantly. He quickly called the general in charge of the base protection branch. "Call off the defensive maneuver," he said. "Let that target do more damage to Swift and Hunter, and then chase him away. I want him alive, remember." The General confirmed and started rounding up the defense team. Delito was happy that some other sucker was going to do his dirty work.

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Ersatz shot the small, but deadly, lasers out of the guns inside of his fingers. Lights flashed every which way as Swift nimbly dashed through each hole he could find. He grabbed the sword that was still lodged in the wall and reflected the multiple lasers back at the gleaming black robot. Each dug not even the slightest dent in the high-class armor. _Nothing can destroy this thing!_ Thought Swift.

He made another attempt to slash at Ersatz, but it trapped the sword in between the two wrist blades and pulled it right out of Swift's hands. With no weapon, he tried to kick Ersatz, but of course it flung him in the direction of the wall.

Hunter saw this scene while running down the hallway and caught Swift before he crashed against the stone. Hunter then flung his knife in the direction of Ersatz, but it bounced right off of the black shoulder plate. Realizing his attempts would be useless, he screamed "We have to get outta here!" and flew as fast as he could, he wings flapping franticly. Swift needed not a second prompting and instantly ran off with Hunter.

Unexpectedly, the bunch of heavy metal transformed into a more maneuverable form. Once it said "Aero mode." in more a robotic voice, the piled-on metal on the chest, shoulders and arms, back and legs were folded back revealing aerodynamic spikes and a smooth, hedgehog-shaped silver and black body. Meter-long wings sprouted from the back as it took a running start into his glide. He took off as a booster propelled him forward with the power of a thousand jets.

They rushed through a white door that led to an octagonal room with a marble center, like a ball room. An open colonnade stretched along the perimeter of the room, with beautiful paintings that were equally lined. Stain-glass windows numbered the dome ceiling that glimmered in the sunlight. Just having this room in any house was to indicate that someone was filthy rich.

But why was it even near the dark base of Über?

Ersatz busted through the white door and changed back to "Battle Mode" as it called it, revealing the heavy black, stacked armor. As it readied its guns, Swift and Hunter prepared for the battle of their lives.


	8. Formal Battle

Chapter 8: Formal Battle.

(Please note that from now on I'm going to refer to Ersatz as a "he" and not an "it" since sometimes it gets confusing.)

Ersatz, after analyzing the surrounding battlefield, drew a scimitar. It looked normal with a red clothed shaft, a silver hand guard, the meter-long blade curving with a broad point. But it soon started glowing via the huge amount of radiating energy. He gripped the sword backwards with the blade facing the opposite the hand. To not alarm Hunter and Swift, he slowly moved his arm upwards in an attempt to subtly blow them to bits.

Hunter saw this move and threw a knife at Ersatz, hoping that it would distract him as he slid into the shadows that lingered in the walls. Swift noticed this move also and jumped into the air. Ersatz looked upward and jumped near Swift at such a speed, Swift was thrown back by the whiplash of the wind as the forgotten knife flew into the wall..

"NOW!" shouted Swift. Hunter zoomed out of the wall behind Ersatz and pulled out his Chaos Emerald. He threw it to Swift and he shouted "Chaos Control!" He disappeared and reappeared at the speed of light with a mighty flash, thereafter carrying his sword again. It was a trick his father, Sonic, had told him when he was a child. He had to center his energy in the emerald, and focus his heart on something very dear to him.

Swift had focused on Clair because this journey had started out a rescue mission, remember.

Ersatz and Swift faced each other in an air battle, swords clashing dozens of times each second. Usually during the instances that Swift's sword hit the robot's body, it would have bounced off without even leaving a scratch, or even the slightest dent in the armor. But by attaching the Chaos Emerald to the sword with a chain, it was able to go through the stacked plates of metal like a hot knife through butter.

Luckily for the robot, he was still surprisingly skilled with the insignificant scimitar in his hand. He blocked Swift's swings again and again until he was able to counter the onslaught with a melee attack of some sort. But only with punches or kicks. Dr. Robotnic ordered specifically to knock Swift out and bring him to his base. Ersatz could eliminate anyone in his way which ensured him some fun.

Eventually, Swift was able to plant his foot on the ground and use his forward momentum to swing his sword right through Ersatz's ankle. For some reason, he didn't flinch, fall back, or even grunt.

He grinned.

Suddenly, long electrical wires sprouted from the hole in the leg and formed another food. A rubber sort of armor seemed to come from the hole to cover the newly created foot, fully replacing the lost body part.

Swift was shocked. How could this thing heal itself? A very smart scientist must have created this. At that instant, he knew who it was. That genius his father had talked about, Dr. Robotnic. He knew that he was not one to be trifled with, unless of course he was plotting something evil. Very evil. Inexplicitly evil. Otherwise, he was to be avoided.

Swift, still surprised by this amazing maneuver, was thrown into the Mona Lisa replica on the wall. Hunter stepped into the fray quick as a flash and landed a few blows on Ersatz with his katanas. Whenever the robot swung his scimitar in a downwards motion to try and crush him, Hunter just spun around and stuck a small metal disc on one of the robot's body parts.

Ersatz finally got tired of this pattern and spun around, launching the small lasers out of his fingers again and again, covering the entire perimeter with small burning craters. Hunter easily blocked this attack with his knives. With a calm grin on his lips, Hunter pressed a small button on his belt, and waited as a small countdown started.

After three seconds, a giant explosion surrounded Ersatz as the small disks ignited in a fiery inferno of wires and armor. Pieces of metal flew everywhere across the room. Hunter smiled, happy with his work. Swift had just come out of the hole in the wall with multiple bruises on his face, body and limbs. Small spots of blood were on his shoulder, showing where the stone spike had pierced him before.

"Good job Hunter." Was all Swift had to say. He was still amazed that Hunter had killed this guy on his own. Not that he doubted him, but it did make him feel a bit insignificant.

"Thanks." Hunter grunted. He still wanted to keep his "cool" attitude, even if he had just beaten one of their most powerful enemies. Swift rolled inside as they prepared to go through the black door opposite the white.

Unknowingly to them, there had been very many cells of Ersatz that had still survived. They slowly grew tiny strings (molecules much, much smaller than atoms) more and more, determined to fix together. Soon they would fix a new form, one much more powerful than the last.

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"WHAT!" screamed the doctor, not happy that his latest invention had been destroyed so easily.

Or at least that was Sparks, the shy helper, had expected to happen. All Dr. Robotnic did was twitch his nose and smirk. "Do not worry, clueless servant of mine." Sparks was always annoyed that this old man always called him clueless. But he knew it was true.

"Ersatz is not destroyed. All that echidna fool did was break my creation into many little pieces, and that is the beauty of it." He brushed his now very bushy mustache.

"If even a single cell remains, one _tiny_ little cell, it can grow into a more powerful form until it can be surpassed by no one!" He now broke out into an uncontrollable laughter that he did at least ten times each day. Sparks really wanted to quit working for this insane… what was the word… loser, but this insane loser would have beat him so hard the screws would not fit in their pockets.


End file.
